Planning your journey?

Under the terms of use of our website www.networkrail.co.uk, we do not represent or affiliate in any way with National Rail Enquiries. The journey planning service it provides is not offered by Network Rail or any of its partners.

Popular pages

Heathrow rail link

A new direct rail link from the West to Heathrow will improve journeys to Britain’s busiest airport and help increase economic productivity in the Thames Valley

As part of our Railway Upgrade Plan we are developing plans to build a new rail tunnel to link the Great Western Mainline to London Heathrow Terminal 5. The proposed rail connection will speed up journeys to Britain’s busiest international airport, by allowing passengers to travel to the airport from Reading, Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough without going into London Paddington.

Benefits for passengers

Reduce rail journey times between Reading and Heathrow (by approximately 35 minutes)

Direct trains between Reading, Slough and Heathrow (approximate journey time from Reading will be 26 minutes)

Improved access to Heathrow from the South Coast, South West, South Wales and West Midlands

More travel options for leisure and business travellers as well as Heathrow employees to London Heathrow

Reduced congestion at London Paddington

Wider benefits

Over £800m of economic activity in Britain, including additional economic benefits for the region

Create potential for 42,000 new jobs

Make CO2 savings equating to approximately 30 million road miles a year

Give 20 per cent of the UK population access to Heathrow via one interchange

Help to provide much needed congestion relief for the M4, M25 and M3 (55 per cent of journeys on the proposed service will be abstracted from the road)

Public consultation update

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to provide us with feedback throughout this formal stage of consultation for the proposed rail link to Heathrow. The consultation for this phase has now closed.

The project is reviewing the feedback received in line with the detailed design of the preferred route option. The team will then be consulting again in autumn 2017, as part of the statutory process, to provide local communities and stakeholders with updated information informed by the consultation earlier this year.

If you would like to review the information and documents that were available during consultation, you can still access these on the consultation hub.

Network Rail Cookie Policy

We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on the Network Rail website. By browsing this website you give consent for cookies to be used. For more details, including how you can amend your preferences, such as by disabling cookie usage on our site, please read our Cookie Policy.